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First Efforts at GF Shopping

ImageMy first reaction to the news of having celiac disease (other than total disbelief) was a strong sense of irony.  How could I, the baker of all things wheat, now be allergic to that most basic of components of my baking?  Once I got used to the idea, I spent some energy investigating where I could buy GF foods.  My local Giant didn’t seem to have much at first glance but after perusing it a couple of times I saw that they had a fair amount of GF cake/brownie/pancake mixes, pastas, redi-mixed flour mixtures, GF condiments and the like.  I bought some GF bread crumbs and cheddar cheese crackers there because they were on sale.  The Giant in Coopersburg has a slightly bigger GF selection.  I got a bunch of rice pastas there.

I have only been to the Rt. 248 Wegmans but it has some great finds too.  I imagine the other two local Wegmans have similar GF stock.  Most important, they have the individual flours that are critical to making your own flour mixes and for many recipes out of GF cookbooks.  I bought some tapioca flour, some potato starch and garbanzo & fava bean flour there.  The G&F flour is hard to find but is used in a number of recipes.  I did find that a white bean flour from Echo Hill was a decent substitute.

Echo Hill Country Store is out in Fleetwood, PA; the edge of Amish Country.  It is a small busy store crowded with aisles full of packaged flours, pastas, rice and beans of a variety that is found no where in this area as far as I can tell.  My friend Marjorie took me there a few years ago and I used to buy a lot of interesting wheat flours there.  Now I buy everything but wheat there.  They have pretty much everything but the G&F flour which I later found at Wegmans.  And they have a good GF pasta selection at decent prices.  I also found a wide variety of rices there that I never see anywhere else.  I found brown risotto rice there! And black rice, green rice and a number of rice mixtures that looked interesting.  Even if you are not GF you should take a trip to Echo Hill.  Their spices have great prices, bulk dipping chocolate is to be had there and there is just a lot of packaged goods to check out.  You can even get real chocolate jimmies there!!

Health food stores carry a decent range of flours and Fry’s Foods in Hellertown has brown  rice flour as well as several other specialty flours necessary for GF baking.  They also have some great GF cereals there.

One thing I haven’t found is rye flavor.  One of my cookbooks uses it to simulate rye bread.  You can mail order it from Authentic Foods which is located in California.  I think I may have to put together an order this spring….  I do miss seeded rye and pumpernickel breads.  So I know I will continue looking for it in stores and one way or another I will make some rye bread soon. 

Most stores have redi-made GF baked goods like rolls and breads.  I have heard nothing good about them.  And they are very pricy; I saw frozen GF breads in Weis Markets that was $7.49 for a loaf! That is twice what wheat bread costs these days.  The GF rolls when touched (my man did that!) are hard and unyielding so I think for now I will be making my own from scratch. 

GF bread crumbs cost about three times what wheat bread crumbs cost but they are nice as they don’t really need refrigeration.  Still, these were made only of cornmeal crumbs which I take issue to.  I think I will stick to my homemade crumbs from leftover GF bread I made in the past.

Everyone says that, once you get the hang of it, home made GF baked goods are far superior to the pre-made stuff offered in today’s stores. So I cannot report to you on how they taste.  If I buy any I will let you know how it tastes.  And if you, fair readers, have tried any pre-made GF breads/rolls please do write in on what you thought of the taste and texture.  Tell me where you bought them too! Maybe I will be tempted to try one by your recommendation.

First published late March 2013.

GF Personal Update….March 2013

Many people have been asking me how the gluten free change is working for me and how I am feeling. So I thought this posting should do just that….I will tell it like it is! After all, I have been fully wheat free for over a month and before that 2 weeks mostly GF. Time for reflections….
Sometimes we endure something nasty for so long that we stop noticing it until it disappears. It is a bit like that for me. After about ten days GF I noticed my tummy felt odd. It felt weirdly calm and pain free. And suddenly I realized that I had been in constant pain, so constant I had somehow managed to grow used to it and just ignore…. so life could go on. Sure there were times it was worse and I noticed some pain. But frankly, I had grown rather accustomed to an aching belly. And when it left it was a revelation! I feel hugely better for the change. But I also underwent ten days of heavy duty antibiotic therapy for a bacterial infection of my stomach which they discovered when they went in for my biopsy. It was also causing tummy badness! So it is a bit tough to say which pain was from what.
I still feel tummy pain on occasion, especially if I eat something with a bit of wheat in it. I ate a chocolate cookie the first week, While at work I absentmindedly popped it in my mouth and only realized my error as I was swallowing it! I felt ill from some tasty homemade chocolates after Valentine’s Day and some malt vinegar on my fish/chips on another day. These small errors of consumption have alerted me to how easily wheat caused symptoms occur. No longer am I the least bit skeptical about my illness. I have incontrovertible evidence of my celiac in how I feel so hugely better in my tummy and how easily wheat causes me pain if I eat even a very small bit.
People say the weirdest things. A neighbor asked how my diet was going; implying I was trying to lose weight or that it was optional. I reminded her that it was a life style change for my health. Others tell me it is an easy change. I say no on that. It was a real struggle to accept this diagnosis. Scary to try to make simple things like gravy. A struggle to walk away from something I loved to the point of addiction. And it is a daily temptation to face, often unexpectedly. There are snacky items full of wheat all around me at work and it is tough to just look away and not eat even one pretzel or cracker or cookie… It has become easier over the weeks and I know it is for the best. Yes, it is not quite the same as a drug or alcohol addiction but the pull is very difficult at times. I know I must do this, but that addiction will likely still tug at me for the rest of my life.
I am reading Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD and it is full of startling information that gives me real pause. I see myself in some of those stories and it is scary. That book is a confirmation of why I need to be wheat free for the rest of my life. I highly recommend you read it.
Eating out is getting less scary as is cooking GF. People have given me quite a few recommendations on where I can get GF meals, particularly pizza for which I am so grateful. I am baking mostly yummy stuff that people are glad to consume greedily. I am lucky that I already knew how to bake and was cooking most of my food from scratch. I can only imagine how this transition would be if I didn’t have those kitchen skills already. I have made GF gravy, GF white sauce and have thickened beef stew with non-wheat flour. I have successfully altered a wheat recipe to make baked goods that are now gluten free. I now know I can do the GF life style. Don’t worry about me anymore! I might fall down once in a while but I really don’t want to cheat. I want to be healthy and feel good.

Anybody want my Wondra Flour that made my gravy so smooth or my mirin rice wine that has a tiny amount of wheat starch in it? Or those dutchy wide homemade noodles I was hording? The purging continues, as it must! Hooray for wheat free! I am not suffering, I have yummy foods I can make and enjoy. So, be supportive and understanding of your GF friends. I suggest you try a GF food when you have the opportunity: like the banana nut muffins I made Sunday, wicked good – no one would ever guess they are GF…. I am very lucky!

**Update….Months later I found that container of Wondra flour in my cupboard and with only a few sad thoughts…threw it in the trash!
First published mid-March 2013

Eating Out GF….A Tricky Business

ImageIt used to be so easy to eat out but I didn’t realize how tough it would be to do so with celiac. No more Subway. No pizza from either of the two places I liked, both are located in Bethlehem. No more pasta with red sauce and seafood at Nino’s. No more warm garlic bread to start and where to even go? At first it seemed I had no options. Then things shifted. I researched a few locations, got some information and eating out became reality!

My first experience was at Red Robin because someone had told me that they had gluten free buns for their burgers. So off we went. It was my first eating out GF experience. I asked for their gluten free menu and got a Xeroxed stapled together packet of pages in typed text. What had to be requested to be left off each item that could be remade as GF. I read it twice, felt intimidated and then chickened out. Literally! I had a chicken cobb salad and asked they remove the blue cheese crumbles as suggested. And someone else ate my garlic bread L Staring at that plate of bread was a major bummer. Next time I will definitely try the GF bun….

A little over a month ago I ate some Panara food – last time I thought. Not so – I find that they have a “secret menu” that you need to ask for; their GF menu! I can’t wait to go and check it out. They keep it secret so they can test it without spending a lot on publicity or publishing costs.

I know there are a few pizza places that boast of GF pizza. The only one I know of for sure is in the basement behind the Bethlehem Brew Words. Got to try it out soon as I am craving pizza for sure…..

Last Sunday I ate Wendy’s. I had their Baha salad which has a cup of their famous chili poured over it. It comes with GF tortilla strips and a big glop of guacamole. It was delicious, really high quality greens and the whole mixture worked well together. Beware, the red jalapeño dressing is very hot!

I found a website that can help celiac sufferers find a restaurant for eating out: http://www.glutenfreerestaurants.org/. Only trouble I see is that it doesn’t have an entry to sort by location so if you look for a pizza place you are looking over a number of states…that sure seems silly to me. It should have a spot to type in the city or at least the state.

I would like to eat out once in a while but it seems like a lot of work and I fear that ignorant staff will say things are GF when they are not. People forget that they put flour in gravies and sauces. And sometimes you can get sick just because of cross contamination; food baked on floury bread boards or pans can do a number on an already messed up digestive system. Some ingredients will be questionable; white vinegar, soy sauce, blue cheese. Chefs that do not realize they must use clean utensils to stir or taste GF foods are contaminating everything GF that they dip that spoon into if it was anywhere near wheat or other gluten containing foods. It will be a bit complicated but what in life isn’t a little tricky? GF pizza here I come!

First posted in early March 2013

 

Baker Can’t Bake??

french bread pan
So, the baker can’t bake. Well…not with wheat, not and to eat! I consider myself a baker and a decent cook. I love to make bread of various sorts. For gosh sakes, I just perfected my slow rise wheat Italian bread last year. It is so good people ask what bakery I bought it at. No more of that. Bummer. So….the quest for decent GF baked goods is on. I made some tasty cookies; oatmeal raisin. They were sweet and crunchy and everyone loved them. I created some lovely delicate coconut raspberry muffins and a loaf of cinnamon current bread which was delightful toasted with butter lightly spread on the warm slice. I tried out a multigrain bread for my first bread effort and was not that happy with it. The teff flour in it made it taste sort of muddy. It is supposed to make it look and taste like whole wheat but I did not think that to be the case. Plus it got very crumbly which made it a total disaster to eat as part of a sandwich. So I didn’t make any more of that. A couple of weeks ago I made Italian bread with fennel seeds and golden raisins. Now I have to say that it was delicious out of the oven especially with some butter. You spoon the bread dough which is sort of loose and squishy into a French bread mold; has tiny holes to let in hot air and creates a certain pattern in the surface of the dough. It was not quite as good the next day but still very edible especially toasted. I made some yummy almond biscotti this past weekend which was well received. Crunchy, slightly sandy, very almondy and great with tea.

Originally published March 2013

Let’s Get Picky

fish sticksMy diagnosis of celiac disease was the beginning of the wheat free era in my kitchen. One box of pasta at a time or so it seems…. So knowing the diagnosis and as the farewell tour ended…well it was time for a major kitchen clean-out. All things wheat must go. That meant the plain flour, bread flour, whole wheat flour, white whole wheat, rye flour, and clear flour. Also to depart are barley, spelt flour, grains of spelt and my beloved Italian farro. That also included my panko crumbs, regular Italian crumbs, plain bread crumbs too! And the pasta: all regular, all whole wheat, all homemade. All of it. So now I keep finding stuff…..keep getting rid of it. Which is hard, so hard as I swear the pasta is literally calling my name! The orchetta, the penne, the orzo is all begging me to put on the pot of water… Yet another bag of discards to be given away; third time of that 

And then as I slide into my new diet, things keep tripping me up. I made some kielbasa (GF according to its label) with boiled potatoes, cabbage and onion. And I get sick. Turns out the malt vinegar I sprinkled on my cabbage has wheat in it. And I was enjoying the dark hand dipped chocolates my boyfriend got for Valentine’s Day. Well…..I feel some weird pains and after more of that happens after the next bite of the tasty candies; I call and find to my horror that they add wheat starch to thicken their chocolate. My beloved chocolate….GONE. Now that is a nightmare in my book! I think what disaster will befall me next? I am ranting I know it….just that losing my favorite chocolates was the last straw. The best thing I loved is gone. I am desolated.

I used to think I could just cut back and that would be enough. Not so. All wheat, all gluten must go. It has turned me into a GF fanatic overnight. Not fun. I went to a soup supper at a church two weeks ago and amidst all the noodle and cream soups, I find just one soup I felt was safe to eat. To help keep me from even looking at the breads available to butter up and enjoy I had brought some crunchy GF cheddar crackers to eat with my soup. As I slurped I worried, could there be some wheat in there as a thickener? I really wish the world would wake up and see that we folk who can no longer eat gluten need. Reliable really wheat free food is what I must find. We truly wish they would provide at least one good GF choice at community or church functions. And label it so we know it is safe for us to eat. Is that too much to ask for? A lot of people who are celiacs won’t eat the food at such functions, not even at parties at their friend’s houses for fear of hidden wheat. I used to pooh-pah such until I got sick at the bit of starch in my chocolates and at the vinegar on my supper the other night. I never would have believed such was possible until it happened to me.

So on Friday I ate at a Lenten fish fry, had the “naked haddock” and it was tasty. But, I do wish the server had used a separate utensil to heft my portion onto my plate. I actually winced when he slid the same spatula under my naked haddock fillet that was just in the breaded and deep fried fish tray. Luckily I didn’t feel sick after supper so he somehow didn’t snag me a bunch of crumbs to trip up my small intestine! Maybe as word of the dire consequences for a touch of wheat get into our general understandings….then no one will look askance when I say, is there a GF soup on the menu? And they will realize that GF meals need separate serving utensils….is it that much effort to wash one more metal spatula? Oyee! I be ranting again. Lately I find myself doing that far too often. Time to scrounge around and find some chocolates without any wheat. Is that possible?? Gosh I hope so….

Originally posted March 15, 2013